Khattar urges farmers to focus on qualitative farming

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday urged the farmers to focus on qualitative farming.

He said that adopting qualitative farming is the need of the hour.

“Farmers have to move ahead in the agriculture sector only by accepting the challenge of providing quality,” he said while addressing the progressive farmers of Haryana in a one-day agriculture workshop organised in Panchkula.

In the workshop -- organised by the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department on the subject of doubling farmers' income and crop diversification -- Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, among others, attended the event, an official statement said.

Khattar called upon the progressive farmers to give training to 10 more farmers every year. With this, the number of progressive farmers will increase manifold in two to three years, he added.

The chief minister said that schemes focused on increasing the income of farmers should be made. He asked the officers of the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department to make small groups of progressive farmers and train them, and it should run continuously.

This will bring a paradigm shift in the agriculture sector, he added.

According to the statement, he said that the focus has to be on how to develop other sources to increase the income of farmers having small lands.

Describing vertical farming as useful in this direction, he asked the officers to work more to spread awareness about the same.

“Though the State Government has established new dimensions in the production of food grains, at the same time by adopting these dimensions, we have reduced the fertility of the land by using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

“According to the present time, we have to change. For this, not only the fertile power of agricultural land will have to be increased, but also we have to be aware of water conservation too,” he said.

Keeping this in mind, the 'Meri Fasal Mera Byora' scheme has been implemented to update the data of crops sown in every acre. Similarly, 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' is being implemented with a focus to encourage farmers to adopt alternate crops other than water-guzzling paddy.

Under this, farmers are being given incentives for sowing crops other than paddy. Besides, farmers who will adopt agroforestry will also be given an incentive of Rs 10,000 per acre for three years. This will not only assure afforestation but would also meet the required need for wood.

The chief minister also said that since the water table level is depleting by more than one meter every year, therefore, in view of this crisis, the state government has to make arrangements accordingly. “There is a need to manage and use water properly, so we do not leave dry land for future generations,” he added.

Addressing the participants at the workshop, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat stressed the usefulness of natural farming.

He said that conservation of water, land and environment is possible through natural farming and it is also possible to increase the income of the farmers. Along with this, people's lives will also be healthy by using crops grown from natural farming, he added. State Power Minister Ranjit Singh and State Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister JP Dalal were also present at the event.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)